Courtney Ford joins 'Vampire Diaries'

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Courtney Ford has reportedly landed a role in the new season of The Vampire Diaries.

Entertainment Weekly reports that Ford, who previously starred as Christine Hill in Dexter, will appear in the show as Vanessa.

The character is said to be a graduate student at Duke University who helps Damon (Ian Somerhalder), Elena (Nina Dobrev) and Alaric (Matthew Davis) look through some of Isobel's research.

Speaking about the character last month, executive producer Kevin Williamson revealed that it has the potential to become a recurring role.

"She's not without her own intrigue," he said. "So it will be a nice little part for someone and it's a storyline that hopefully could evolve into this massive storyline or we'll just gut her like a fish! We don't know yet."

The Vampire Diaries returns for a new season on September 9 on The CW.